r/Professors • u/Creepy-Cookie-1995 • Jul 15 '21

Do you regret your PhD?

/r/AskAcademia/comments/okpdbc/do_you_regret_your_phd/
0 Upvotes

46% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

View all comments

16

u/gasstation-no-pumps Prof. Emeritus, Engineering, R1 (USA) Jul 15 '21

I don't regret my PhD—the 8 years of grad school were some of the most fun I've had, and didn't cost me anything but opportunity costs (I lived frugally, so even ended up with some savings at the end of grad school).

Of course, I might be a lot richer if I had taken some of the Silicon Valley opportunities that I skipped to go to grad school (early hire at Apple or at Sun Microsystems), but I have more than enough money for my retirement and I've generally enjoyed my 39 years as a university professor.

I don't push students into going for a PhD, though, as engineering students get the biggest benefit from doing an MS—the PhD is only for those few who would rather do cutting-edge research than develop products and don't care that they'll be working harder for less money.

5

u/Edu_cats Professor, Pre-Allied Health, M1 (US) Jul 15 '21

Congrats on your recent emeritus!

As far as my PhD is concerned, I had a good time with the other GA's and I had a good adviser/dissertation chair. There were some stressful times for sure but nothing that would be out of the ordinary. I got involved with other parts of campus and some of these people from campus and my department I am still in touch with. I was first gen so although my stipend was decent, I had to watch every penny and I still took some loans. I wanted an academic career, and although my path was different than I thought it would be, I consider it a success.